Udupi: Niranjan Bhat, a local astrologer accused in the Bhaskar Shetty's murder has attempted suicide by consuming his finger ring and earrings. He is under observation at the District Government Hospital in Udupi.

Meanwhile, the police will produce him in the court after he is discharged from the hospital.

Bhat was arrested on August 8 at Dharwad following the murder of the missing businessman and hotelier, Bhaskar Shetty.

According to the sources,  Bhaskar Shetty owned a large property and a chain of supermarkets in the Gulf. Bhaskar Shetty went missing on July 28th following which his mother lodged a complaint alleging his wife and son for the kidnapping.

The mother-son duo were arrested on Sunday in connection with murdering Bhaskar Shetty and trying to destroy evidence. They have reportedly admitted that they killed the hotelier, in connivance with a local astrologer, Niranjan Bhat in order to grab his property estimated to be worth over Rs 200 crore.

The astrologer who was close to Rajeshwari and Navneet is said to have taken part in disposing off the body. The Udupi police said the astrologer was a central figure in the crime, having gained access to the Navaneeth two years ago. Shetty, who used to spend a lot of his time in Saudi Arabia, had objected to his wife’s proximity to the astrologer and threatened to divorce her. Shetty reportedly told his wife and son that he would not give them any share of his property. They also came to know that Shetty was in the process of writing a will in favour of his parents, sisters and brothers.

Enraged over this, the trio planned to finish Shetty's life. In their statement, Rajeshwari and Navaneeth admitted that they had killed Shetty at his home near Manipal on July 28. They told the police that they took the body to the astrologer’s residence in Nandalike, where they burnt it and threw the remains into a river.